boom

[Danksters]

[JoeNitro]

wow i dident know it was possible to photograph the breaking of sound... thats sick.

[hippie metal]

holy fuck thats awesome

[Buffalo Phil]

wow i dident know it was possible to photograph the breaking of sound... thats sick.

You amaze me with every post you make.

[JoeNitro]

You amaze me with every post you make.

why?

[Buffalo Phil]

why?

Because it seems like you should still be in the 5th grade.

[blakdot]

wow i dident know it was possible to photograph the breaking of sound... thats sick.

Maybe i'm miss-interpreting what you mean by that statement, but you do realize light is faster than sound right?

[Buffalo Phil]

you do realize light is faster than sound right?

[JoeNitro]

Maybe i'm miss-interpreting what you mean by that statement, but you do realize light is faster than sound right?

i know. but to snap that pic right as it happened.... thats good.

[Buffalo Phil]

i know. but to snap that pic right as it happened.... thats good.

Once you pass the speed of sound, you continue to create the sonic boom. It isn't just like once you hit a certain speed you get a single boom and that's that. Event over in a split second. Once you break the sound barrier, you continuously create a sonic boom.

[blakdot]

Also if i had to guess, this picture didn't just happen. More likely it was taken during a photo-shoot, or a photographer specifically went to a military base where scheduled supersonic training flights were occurring.

[JoeNitro]

Once you pass the speed of sound, you continue to create the sonic boom. It isn't just like once you hit a certain speed you get a single boom and that's that. Event over in a split second. Once you break the sound barrier, you continuously create a sonic boom.

Also if i had to guess, this picture didn't just happen. More likely it was taken during a photo-shoot, or a photographer specifically went to a military base where scheduled supersonic training flights were occurring.

oh.

carry on.

[blakdot]

oh.

carry on.

never the less, a very sweet photo.

[Danksters]

Finally I can put my education to use. I learned about this in Compressible Flow class.

The reason it happens is something called the Prandtl-Glauert singularity. Rapid condensation of water vapor due to a sonic shock produced at sub-sonic speed creates a vapor cone visible to the naked eye.

Basically, as the jet travels faster than the speed of sound, the air pressure builds up exponentially around the front of the plane, in the shape of a cone. When the air moves past the high pressure zone, the extremely rapid pressure drop causes the water vapor present to condense, making the shock cone you see in the picture.

[Danksters]

i know. but to snap that pic right as it happened.... thats good.

It's not like that. Once the jet is at or past the speed of sound it happens constantly until the plane slows to below the speed of sound. It is a side effect of traveling faster than the speed of sound. So it's not hard to get a pic of it if you live near an AF base.